A special thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
You
can always expect a moving, emotional, thought-provoking, and wise
message from Catherine Ryan Hyde-- woven through the eloquent words of
her powerful, unforgettable novels. With ASK HIM WHY, there is much more
than good storytelling, and a powerful message--- A novel you want to
dissect. A flawed broken family. Daughter, Ruth (Duck), Younger son,
Aubrey (Mr. Universe), and older son, Joseph. Brad and Janet – parents. A
therapist (Luanne). Mistakes are made. Strong words are said. Betrayal.
Consequences. Wasted Years. A powerful bold takeaway message: Hope,
redemption, and forgiveness.
A stranger, a wise unselfish man
(Hammish MacCallum) who pulls together a lost family. A saver of lives.
Don’t we all wish we had more "Ham’s" in this world? It would be a much
better place.
Ruth, a girl caught in the middle of two troubled
brothers, desperately trying to put the pieces of their lives back
together, even as a grown adult. Where presumptions only serve to
mislead you. Many obstacles: the war, Iraq, a mission, a cliff,
expectations, media, assumptions, troubled young adults, a broken
family.
ASK HIM WHY is like a complex puzzle. A broken family.
This family does not know how to be a family. No communication. Silence
is socially acceptable. Outward appearances matter. Parents handing down
bad habits to their own children. What might a real family look like?
When there are no role models, bad habits continue through generations,
until a disaster, a tragedy ---recalculating. Sometimes this takes an
outsider, a stranger, to lead the wayward back on the correct path.
Strongly
reminding me of a quote, “Maybe it isn’t that we’re supposed to find
the pieces and put them back together. Maybe we’re the pieces. Maybe,
what we’re supposed to do is come together. That’s how we stop the
breaking.” If it doesn’t fit, don’t force it. If you’re working at
solving a puzzle, it is impossible to force the pieces to fit. If you
try and force pieces where they don’t belong, the rounded edges will
separate and crease, damaging the puzzle.
While reading many
books, there are those rare, intriguing few which stand out. Ask Him is
one of those. Most readers read a novel for simple entertainment. I also
enjoy dissecting or understanding the inspiration behind the novel. The
construction. The hidden meanings. The message.
With authors in
particular such as Catherine Ryan Hyde with a long list of successful
books, readers (myself included), tend to compare one novel to another.
Each novel deserves to stand on its own accord. What I enjoy about Hyde
and Koontz, in particular; their writing is unique, clever, original,
and no one book is like the other. You see reviews all over the board.
Each reader receives a different message. Sometimes there is more than
the outward appearance. The obvious. It urges you to dig deeper, for the
hidden meaning, the extraordinary, lingering characters remaining with
you. A book written from the heart. An ideal book for young and older
adults, and those in between. Powerful!
Always curious how
authors take a small spark of an idea, an inspiration, and build
something incredible---the thought behind the masterpiece. Having read
no hints about how this book came to be; I am positive Hyde has an
intriguing story. I for one would love to hear it—with an author
Q&A. Perfect timing with today’s national controversial headlines
of war, unrest, terrorism, suicide, bullying, and hatred. There are so
many mixed messages of good versus evil. A strong novel!
Ask Him
Why is a complex book, you need to think about--to ponder. It draws you
in. There is a thought process. It is one of those rare books, which
does not use the sensational…"See Me" I am great, you have to read me.
It is a more slow burning, deeper novel --calling you into the wee hours
of the morning. Characters, events, emotions, words, actions.
There
is so much depth here; however, you need to peel back the layers. You
will find yourself bookmarking so many pages of beautiful prose.
Literary criticism can be at times, like the focus of this novel.
Judgmental. This novel grows from the inside out, full of metaphors and
life lessons.
Ask. When you don’t know something, you ask. You
don’t assume. No one asked for Joseph’s side of the story. No one seems
curious as to why he did what he did? There are always two sides to a
coin. Aren't we all guilty of doing the same? There is also Forgiveness.
Some of my favorite quotes:
Ruth:
“How to start the pattern of silence. So innocently, and on such a
small scale, and then once you open the door for them, they barge in and
take on a life of their own.”
Ham: “Good to get the truth out
into the air. Everything grows best in oxygen and sunlight except
secrets and guilt and regrets. They like the dark spaces. Drag them out
into the light and they fail to thrive.”
Ruth: “No pressure, I
thought. Just a dying family member with a dying wish that’s probably
impossible, but it’s my job to make it come true. No worries. Happy
holidays to all. I’ll do my best.”
Joseph: “I learned a good lesson a long time ago, too, Mr. Universe: never assume you’ll have a million more chances.”
Ham:
“They didn’t get what they needed from their folks, so now they can’t
give you kids what they don’t have. They’re victims and the
perpetrators, both, and the cycle just keeps going around and around.
And I don’t know what do to stop it, any more than anybody else does,
except I just know bacon and eggs and potatoes. It doesn’t fix
everything, but it makes a dent, and anyway, like said before, I can
only do what I can do and no more.”
“Hammy says you can’t unroll a snowball. Just like you can’t un-ring a bell. We are responsible for what we do.”
Ham:
"Nothing in this life is simple. When trouble comes to the world. They
try to make things black and white, but nothing ever will be. It’s where
all the bad stuff gets its start. There’s the trouble people make by
trying to shape the world to suit them and failing.”
"Janet and Brad broke Joseph, and Hamish MacCallum patched him up and got him halfway back together again."
"How would you feel it you had to wait ten and half years, for someone to, ask, why?"
"You can heal your own self first, but most people never do. Maybe because you have to start by admitting you’re broken."
Aubrey
to Luanne: "Sometimes I wonder why I pay you money to have this stuff
shoved in my face." Luanne: "If it helps to be reminded, Aubrey, you
don’t pay me much."
The ending: PRICELESS! Highly Recommend.
“There
are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she
has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big
jigsaw puzzle.”-Deepak Chopra
